Michael Gove has apologised to council leaders over mistakes on a list of schools affected by building cuts. The mistakes meant schools thought their plans would go ahead only for them to find out later that they would not. Mr Gove "apologised unreservedly" to council leaders meeting in Bournemouth, saying he was sorry for the confusion. Councils affected by the decision are threatening to take legal action.
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"I am the person responsible and accountable for that, and I do apologise."
The mistakes were on a list relating to the scrapping of the multi-billion pound Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme in England. In Sandwell, in the West Midlands, nine schools were on the approved list on Monday but by Tuesday they had found out this was a mistake and that the plans would not go ahead. The council branded the decision "bizarre and disgraceful" and threatened legal action but after meeting Mr Gove in Bournemouth, its leader Darren Cooper said Mr Gove had promised to review his decision on the area. Mr Gove's officials have since denied this, saying there is "no going back" but that they would look at other ways that work could be done.
At a meeting of the Local Government Association in Bournemouth, Mr Gove said: "In setting the direction of a new policy I believe is right and necessary, I failed and it was my failure to provide totally accurate information on a school by school basis, about which schools would be affected. I am the person responsible and accountable for that, and I do apologise. I wish in particular to apologise to people in those local authorities such as Sandwell that are doing such a great job, and they found that schools were wrongly informed that their building would proceed under BSF, and, sadly, it will not proceed under BSF. I want to apologise to them unreservedly."
The NASUWT teaching union is planning to lobby parliament on BSF on Monday 19 July and is inviting other unions to join it. General secretary Chris Keates said: "Pupils, parents and school staff across the country are not only reeling from the devastating news of their school building programmes being slashed but also from the confusion and inaccuracy surrounding which schools are in or out of the project. Cutting the school building projects is totally unnecessary and is jeopardising the educational future of many children and young people."
